Is the CUDA version listed in the Tensorflow installation instructions the maximum or minimum version that can/should be installed?

In the below image tensorflow-2.7 has CUDA version as 11.2 does that mean I can installed

• versions > 11.2 or
• versions < 11.2 or
• must installed 11.2 only.

Solution 1:

Is the CUDA version mentioned in the list, the maximum version that can be installed or minimum version that should be installed?

Neither. It is the exact minor version of the CUDA runtime you must have available. Same for CUDNN (and that CUDNN version must also be version matched to your CUDA runtime).

In your example:

1. versions > 11.2 or
2. versions < 11.2 or
3. must install 11.2 only.

it is the third option and only the third option which is correct. Note that if you see versions of CUDA such as 11.2.1 and 11.2.2, the last digit just indicates a bug fix revision, and there is no difference as far as Tensorflow is concerned.